Brandlective express concern as 25% of UK startups operate without a website

News provided by Brandlective on Friday 4th Dec 2015

Government research suggests that nearly 2 million UK businesses are not online

Online Marketing Agency Brandlective express their concern at the high percentage of UK startups who lack an online presence.

The Agency states that the internet plays a key role in helping companies of all sizes across the UK reach new customers, and for a startup to not have the basics in place will inevitably stunt their business growth opportunities. SMEs and startups that lack websites and active social media channels are significantly handicapping themselves, as tactics on these platforms now play a sizable role in helping achieve discovery for their brand.

According to a report published in The Telegraph (2015) the source of the hesitation to 'get online' can be narrowed down to three principal reasons. 35% of small businesses and startups thought they were too small to warrant a website; 19% said they didn't have enough time to build one; and one in five claimed that the cost was their major prohibiting factor.

The UK government launched a campaign back in 2014 in an attempt to help small businesses 'get online', and BIS Entrepreneur-in-Residence Simon Devonshire said, “Government research suggests that nearly 2 million UK businesses are not online, and of those that do have an online presence; over two-thirds are not transactional. I cannot think of a business to whom being online is not now vital to their trade, irrespective of their ambition to grow". I think those businesses that embrace the digital opportunity are improving their opportunity to reduce costs, to scale-up, and possibly even export." (Gov.uk, 2014).

Local Business Week issued a warning from experts that claimed smaller businesses could be missing out on new jobs and growth because they don't know how to market themselves properly (Local Business Week, 2015). Brandlective maintain that in today's digital environment a website serves as a 24-hour online brochure for your business, and without one you not only risk failing to reach potential customers through Google and social media channels, but also chance alienating your current clients that might switch to a more up-to-date competitor.

For many startups time is a precious entity, and designing a website that truly reflects their brand may be a costly endeavour in that respect, but for whatever reason building an online presence has not been a priority. Brandlective want this to change, as it is now habitual for consumers to research a company's information and presence online before making a purchase. If the relevant website or social media channels are lacking, the discovered deficiency or tumbleweed may well be enough to put the customer off.

For a small investment it's now possible for SMEs to sell themselves attractively to target customers using their professional websites. Whilst having an online presence is a must for today's businesses - it does not mean it needs to break the bank. Indeed, Brandlective Communications provide website solutions for cash-strapped entrepreneurs with a range of designs that suit small budgets.

Looking to the future, the agency hopes that the percentage of startups and SMEs that operate without websites significantly decreases, and the building of their online presence, that used to be less of a priority, becomes one.